STARBUCKS

Friday, March 6, 2015

17 Invaluable Tips For Anybody With Too Many Clothes

When you feel like you have nothing to wear but your closet overfloweth with crap, use these tips to create a clean and neat closet that allows room for the addition of new crap. Yay, crap!

1. To begin cleaning out a messy closet take every single thing out of it.

2. When choosing clothes to keep, ask yourself a few vital questions to immediately weed out the weak items. (WARNING: this may seem like everything you own. Probably).

If you answered no to one or more of these questions, you’re probably looking at an article of clothing that you bought and loved once, but just isn’t your thing anymore. That, or it’s a weird Halloween costume from high school. Why do you still have that?

3. Hang the items you want to keep in your closet neatly so you can see everything you own at a glance.

Don’t overstuff, though. Common sense, but it’s how the clutter creeps its way in!

4. Use the backwards hanger strategy when putting clothes back into your closet to get a better idea of the items you actually wear often.

Face all of your hangers away from you and replace each one the “right way” after wearing the item hanging on it. Check back in six months and then a year to see which hangers are still facing the wrong way. Maybe it’s time to get rid of those articles and clean out your closet again?

5. To keep everything looking fresh and neat, get new hangers so that everything in your closet looks uniform.

Having all of your hangers look the same will make your organization loving inner-self happy.

6. Use garment organizers to separate your clothes into categories that work for you - seasons, occasions, type of item, etc.

So. Much. Organization.

Yes.

7. Fold heavy clothes, especially sweaters and loose knits that may lose their shape on a hanger.

8. When folding your other keepers, try to think of a way of organizing them before shoving them into drawers or up onto shelves.

While it may be tempting to color code your clothes via Pinterest inspiration, make sure your organization works for you and won’t confuse you as to where your things are. Organize in a way that will remind you of the clothes you have and love. See some pro tips for organizing here.

9. Assess your reject pile and decide which items can be sold.

10. If there isn’t anything wrong with the items that you do not want to keep, consider giving them away.

11. When you look at an article of your old clothing and just think, “nope”, then maybe it is destined for the trash.

Or, if you or a friend is into DIY, save the fabric scraps to make something awesome!

12. If you’re really on the struggle bus, refer to the decision tree below to help you decide whether you still need that neon blue sweater from 1996.

13. For extra organization, you can use dividers to end drawer chaos.

Drawer dividers, like these or these, can help you manage the things in your drawers that often get too messy to deal with (unmentionables, socks, ties, belts; the drawer is your oyster!). If you prefer to DIY, try PVC pipes lined up as dividers!

14. Don’t let your floor space go to waste!

15. Decorate your closet/room with wearable items.

Turn dead wall space into shoe shelving and feature your favorites for a display that is both practical and decorative. This would work with bags and accessories, too!

16. Maximize shelf space and be super organized by using shelf dividers.

Dividers are great for creating a smaller space to stack items like bags or other loose accessories that would normally create a mess without using boxes as storage. If you can see your items directly on the shelf instead of in a box, you are more likely to remember it exists and actually use it.

17. Don’t just use your closet doors for opening and closing, use them for extra storage.

Over-the-door shoe bags can be used to store not only shoes, but belts, socks, accessories, and more. If you don’t have enough room for a full shoe bag, try hooks, or a towel rod to hang items.

And now, some incredible closet porn to both inspire you and make you hate your closet that is probably smaller than an American Eagle dressing room.